I’ve used both Apple Music and Spotify in recent years and while their discovery is okay, it always plays it safe. As if they’ve made a genre that is just for me and won’t play anything outside of that. How do I expand my music horizons?
I stalk strangers mostly. I search on rateyourmusic or bandcamp for albums I enjoy, then I check the people that like that album too and what else they like, and I give that a listen.
Why didn’t I think of this
Radio free fedi is the best for discovery. All kinds of stuff from all over the fediverse
Radio DJ like Mixcloud and apps, things like Nightwave Plaza for vaporwave/electronica.
As basic as I sound saying this, it still works: TikTok, local music enthusiastic radio and Anthony Fantano.
I also keep a playlist of albums to check out, so I don’t forget.
last.fm, word of mouth, /r/popheads, and [email protected]
I spend a lot of time curating from my discover weekly and release radar. But if I really like a band, ill go into the similar bands at the bottom and sometimes I find a few good things there too. A key thing is I aggressively tell Spotify when I don’t like something, marking songs or artists as hidden.
What are you into/what do you want to get into?
I own an Alexa. Often, it doesn’t understand me 100%, and instead play music based on the bits it could make out.
Gotta love the randomness! As the search is based on keywoards and not rhythm (differently from how I assume Spotify comes up with recommendations), I’ve discovered neat opera, rock, jazz, electronic, etc.
Although sometimes I really. just. need. to turn on my kitchen!
I like to explore the “Selling Right Now” feed and “Discover” tool on Bandcamp, or browse through the “you may also like” on albums I already own. Since I buy almost all of my music there these days anyway it’s pretty convenient.
I’ve been using the 1001 Albums website. It’s definitely not foolproof since you won’t find anything extremely recent or niche but it forces you to listen to albums you wouldn’t normally choose and they are all generally pretty solid (or better). You can also use it in concert (so to speak) with friends so you can listen to the same album on the same day and discuss it together.
It’s not a huge number, but I’ve put 5 albums into rotation just because of this website.
Interestingly, I feel like I’ve found more “new” music using Spotify’s Release Radar playlist instead of their Discover Weekly playlist. I’ll typically (and aggressively) mark things as like/don’t like in those playlists and add what I like to my own “Testing” playlist to see what sticks to me. Release Radar tends to have more likes than Discover Weekly does, despite what the two are named, and it’s providing new artists on top of existing ones I’m already a fan of.
That’s usually good enough for me, though the occasional time I’m listening to the radio or a song comes on over the speakers when I’m out and about gets a quick Shazam from me to know what it was.
To add on to that. Their enhance playlists or similar songs found at the bottom of your playlist page can be really relevant and I’ve learned about a ton of new artists that way.
Yes, that has helped out a lot too. It may not work for OP since they’re feeling like these systems are creating a genre just for you, but this works if you’re not looking to jump to something too different from what you already enjoy.
Spotify’s song/artist radio feature as well as looking at recent releases/charts for genres i like or albums i think look interesting on https://rateyourmusic.com/
Mostly just fumbling around with any online service where music is available. Sometimes I’ll go to find a piece of music I already like, and see where the suggestions lead me. Othertimes I might read about an artist am into, then try to listen to work by those they list as influences, and who has listed them as influences.
Sometimes I just hear stuff out in the world and come home and try to find it - usually successfully.
https://Last.fm is another service that will track what you listen to and suggest tracks that other people enjoying the same music you do.
It’s basically the same, but it’s 3rd party. I’ve been using that for several years, and it’s given me many great suggestions.Man, that’s a site I haven’t thought of for ages, but I think I actually did find myself there (or somewhere similar) a couple of years ago for something very specific.
I remember like over a decade ago when iTunes was “just” a media player and later an album/track store. Really, it was there for transferring shit to your iPod, if we’re being honest.
Anyway, I remember that it was one of the media players that you could hook into Last.fm and you’d use the “scrobbler” (is it still called that?) to find new tracks and artists, with a nice interface which showed the stuff you listen to most. Didn’t (doesn’t) it also sync with your media player and display what you’re currently listening to as well?
I remember people also made custom lists to share. Not necessarily playlists, but lists of artists who fit a certain theme or genre, all that stuff.
Then I ditched music for a few years and forgot about it. I should take a look again. Might be helpful.
Radio Paradise They have Main, Rock, Mellow and Global streams. Been listening since they started and Global is currently my favourite.
